Complete List Of 67 ETP Closures For 2013

Sixty-seven exchange traded products ("ETPs") saw their last day of listed trading in 2013. This is the second highest annual death toll for the relatively young industry, surpassed only by the 102 closures of the prior year. The departed are a mixture of 50 ETFs and 17 ETNs, and the lifetime count now stands at 380 (324 ETFs and 56 ETNs).

Closures affected 16 different brands, with FactorShares, KEYnotes, and STREAM becoming brands that are no longer with us. We welcomed the closure of FactorShares, as it removed an industry blight due to these ETFs having ludicrous expense ratios as high as 33%. JPMorgan closed out its only KEYnotes ETN in October along with two other ETNs under the JPMorgan brand. However, it did not liquidate the KEYnotes product at the time. JPMorgan is now down to a single ETP, the JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (NYSEARCA:AMJ). AMJ has ceased creating new shares though, rendering it a broken product subject to price premiums.

BNP Paribas entered the U.S. ETF market in 2012 with the introduction of the STREAM S&P Dynamic Roll Global Commodities ETF (NYSEARCA:BNPC). BNP Paribas committed ETF sponsor suicide in April of 2013 by closing and delisting the fund without any plan to liquidate the assets and return the money to shareholders. Eventually, BNP Paribas came around, but it took 199 days to render payments, providing an excellent example of why investors should sell shares prior to delisting and avoid the liquidation process. That may seem extreme, but Credit Suisse finally got around to liquidating three ETNs in 2013 that it delisted in 2009, taking 1,422 days for shareholders to get their money.

Most of 2013's closures had become Zombie ETFs, and 57 of the 67 (85%) were on ETF Deathwatch at the time of their closure announcements. Typically, closures are the result of failing to attract enough assets, and in turn, not generating enough revenue for the sponsor. There were some exceptions, like the triggering of an early termination event to prevent the price from going to zero for two ETNs. Three bond ETFs had graceful closings due to reaching their planned maturity and liquidation dates. Guggenheim had the most closures of funds not on ETF Deathwatch, suggesting the firm has been aggressive in removing unprofitable products from its lineup.

The average age of funds that closed in 2013 was 37.7 months (3.1 years). This is greater than the 28.4-month average and much greater than the 18.9-year median lifespan of all 380 closed products. Sponsors were apparently willing to subsidize these non-profitable products a little longer in the hopes the bull market would help them attract more assets.

The table below is currently sorted by product name.

ETF and ETN Closures of 2013

Search:

#

Ticker

Name

Last Day

Deathwatch

Notes

1

SSAM

AdvisorShares Rockledge SectorSAM

06/14/2013

Yes

1

2

BXDC

Barclays ETN+ S&P 500 Lvrgd 2x Short C ETN

01/10/2013

Yes

3

3

INSD

Direxion Large Cap Insider Sentiment

01/18/2013

Yes

4

VSPR

Direxion S&P 1500 DRRC Volatility Response

01/18/2013

Yes

5

VLAT

Direxion S&P Latin America 40 DRRC Vlty Res

01/18/2013

Yes

6

LGEM

EGShares Basic Materials GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

7

GGEM

EGShares Consumer Goods GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

8

VGEM

EGShares Consumer Services GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

9

EMT

EGShares Emerging Markets Metals & Mining

10/04/2013

Yes

10

OGEM

EGShares Energy GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

11

FGEM

EGShares Financials GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

12

AGEM

EGShares GEMS Composite

10/04/2013

Yes

13

HGEM

EGShares Health Care GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

14

IGEM

EGShares Industrials GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

15

QGEM

EGShares Technology GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

16

TGEM

EGShares Telecom GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

17

UGEM

EGShares Utilities GEMS

10/04/2013

Yes

18

GWO

ELEMENTS CS Global Warming ETN

02/25/2013

Yes

19

PTD

ETRACS CMCI Short Platinum ER ETN

06/05/2013

Yes

20

BLND

ETRACS DJ-UBS Comdty 2-4-6 Blnd Fut ETN

06/05/2013

Yes

21

SSDD

ETRACS ISE Solid State Drive ETN

06/05/2013

Yes

22

LSKY

ETRACS Mth 2x ISE Cloud Computing ETN

06/05/2013

Yes

23

SSDL

ETRACS Mth 2x ISE Solid State Drive ETN

06/05/2013

Yes

24

EIPL

ETRACS Mth 2x Next Generation Internet ETN

06/05/2013

Yes

25

EIPO

ETRACS Next Generation Internet ETN

06/05/2013

Yes

26

FSG

FactorShares 2X: Gold Bull/S&P500 Bear

11/21/2013

Yes

27

FOL

FactorShares 2X: Oil Bull/S&P500 Bear

11/21/2013

Yes

28

FSE

FactorShares 2X: S&P500 Bull/TBond Bear

11/21/2013

Yes

29

FSU

FactorShares 2X: S&P500 Bull/USD Bear

11/21/2013

Yes

30

FSA

FactorShares 2X: TBond Bull/S&P500 Bear

11/21/2013

Yes

31

RSU

Guggenheim 2x S&P 500

03/15/2013

-

32

ABCS

Guggenheim ABC High Dividend

03/15/2013

Yes

33

FAA

Guggenheim Airline

03/15/2013

-

34

BSCD

Guggenheim BulletShares 2013 Corp Bond

12/30/2013

-

2

35

BSJD

Guggenheim BulletShares 2013 HY Bond

12/30/2013

-

2

36

RSW

Guggenheim Inverse 2x S&P 500

03/15/2013

-

37

EWEF

Guggenheim MSCI EAFE Equal Weight

03/15/2013

-

38

EWMD

Guggenheim S&P MidCap 400 Equal Weight

03/15/2013

Yes

39

EWSM

Guggenheim S&P SmallCap 600 Equal Weight

03/15/2013

Yes

40

WXSP

Guggenheim Wilshire 4500 Completion

03/15/2013

Yes

41

WFVK

Guggenheim Wilshire 5000 Total Market

03/15/2013

-

42

RMB

Guggenheim Yuan Bond

06/14/2013

Yes

43

MFSA

iPath Short Enh -2x MSCI EAFE Index ETN

09/16/2013

Yes

3

44

MUAB

iShares 2013 S&P AMT-Free Muni Term ETF

08/15/2013

-

2

45

ALT

iShares Diversified Alternative Trust

05/28/2013

-

1

46

DSXJ

JPM Qtrly Dbl Short US 10-Yr Treas Futures ETN

10/02/2013

Yes

47

DSTJ

JPM Qtrly Dbl Short US Long Treas Futures ETN

10/02/2013

Yes

48

JFT

KEYnotes FT Enhanced 130/30 Large Cap ETN

10/09/2013

Yes

49

NASI

Pax MSCI North America ESG

03/13/2013

Yes

50

PLK

PowerShares Active Low Duration

02/26/2013

Yes

1

51

PMA

PowerShares Active Mega-Cap Portfolio

02/26/2013

Yes

1

52

CVRT

PowerShares Convertible Securities Portfolio

02/26/2013

Yes

53

PJB

PowerShares Dynamic Banking

02/26/2013

Yes

54

PIC

PowerShares Dynamic Insurance

02/26/2013

Yes

55

PKOL

PowerShares Global Coal Portfolio

02/26/2013

-

56

PKN

PowerShares Global Nuclear Energy

02/26/2013

Yes

57

PSTL

PowerShares Global Steel Portfolio

02/26/2013

Yes

58

PWND

PowerShares Global Wind Energy

02/26/2013

Yes

59

PTO

PowerShares Ibbotson Alternative Completion

02/26/2013

Yes

60

PYH

PowerShares Morningstar StockInvestor Core

02/26/2013

Yes

61

PAO

PowerShares Riverfront Tactical Bal Growth

02/26/2013

Yes

62

PCA

PowerShares Riverfront Tactical Gr & Inc

02/26/2013

Yes

63

BNPC

STREAM S&P Dynamic Roll Global Commodities

04/12/2013

Yes

64

IPLT

VelocityShares 2x Inverse Platinum ETN

12/26/2013

Yes

65

LPLT

VelocityShares 2x Long Platinum ETN

12/26/2013

Yes

66

DOIL

VelocityShares 3x Inverse Brent Crude ETN

12/26/2013

Yes

67

UOIL

VelocityShares 3x Long Brent Crude ETN

12/26/2013

Yes

Click to enlarge

Showing 1 to 67 of 67 entries

Notes: 1) actively managed, 2) reached planned maturity, 3) hit early termination trigger, 4) less than 6 months at time of closure announcement. All exchange traded notes are identified with "ETN" as part of their name description.

Disclosure (covering writer, editor, publisher, and affiliates): No positions in any of the securities mentioned. No positions in any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned. No income, revenue, or other compensation (either directly or indirectly) received from, or on behalf of, any of the companies or ETF sponsors mentioned.